(9 Sep 2019) U.S. peace talks with the Taliban are now "dead," President Donald Trump declared Monday, one day after he abruptly canceled a secret meeting he had arranged with Taliban and Afghan leaders aimed at ending America's longest war.
Trump's remark to reporters at the White House suggested he sees no point in resuming a nearly yearlong effort to reach a political settlement with the Taliban, whose protection of al-Qaida extremists in Afghanistan prompted the U.S. to invade after the 9/11 attacks.
Asked about the peace talks, Trump said, "They're dead. They're dead. As far as I'm concerned, they're dead."
It's unclear whether Trump will go ahead with planned U.S. troop cuts and how the collapse of his talks will play out in deeply divided Afghanistan.
In his remarks to reporters Monday, Trump said his administration is "looking at" whether to proceed with troop reductions that had been one element of the preliminary deal with the Taliban struck by presidential envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.
"We'd like to get out, but we'll get out at the right time," Trump said.
Khalilzad had been in negotiations for nearly a year with the Taliban's political wing in Doha, Qatar. What had seemed like an imminent deal to end America's longest war unraveled at the last minute.
Trump tweeted Saturday night that he had canceled his planned meeting with the Taliban and Afghan leaders at Camp David this past weekend.
The insurgents are now promising more bloodshed. The Afghan government remains mostly on the sidelines of the U.S. peace effort. And as Trump's reelection campaign heats up, his quest to withdraw the remaining 14,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan remains unfulfilled — so far.

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